37– ERRONEOUS EXPLANATION OF THE QUR’AN AL-KERÎM

“Tafsîr” means stating and discovering. It is a process of informing and explaining. “Ta’wîl” means ‘recision’ or ‘recourse’. “Tafsîr” means to give a meaning. “Ta’wîl” means ‘to make a choice from several possible meanings.” It is not permissible to state your personal views in the name of tafsîr. Riwâyat (reporting, transmission, narration) is the foundation whereon tafsîr is based, whereas the dominant factor in ta’wîl is dirâyat (personal comprehension, intellectual subtlety). Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “A person who explains the Qur’ân al-kerîm with his personal views, is virtually in error even if his explanation happens to be correct.” It would be quite wrong to relegate the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ down into a parochial meaning which is propounded in total absence of certain high-level qualifications such as full knowledge of the reports coming from Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu

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’alaihi wa sal-lam’ and his Sahâba ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhum’ and the various tafsîrs rendered by scholars, mastery over the usûl (methodology) of the science of Tafsîr and over the Qoureishî dialect, connoiseurship in literary stylistics such as verbal and metaphorical phraseology, scientistic ability to demarcate between mujmal (~ concise) and mufassal (~ detailed, comprehensive) narrations as well as between general and specific meanings, awareness of the causes and occasions for the revelation of each and every âyat-i-kerîma, and a deep-rooted research concerning the nâsikh (abrogating) âyat-i-kerîmas as well as the mansûkh (abrogated) ones. “Tafsîr” means ability to understand from the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ what Allâhu ta’âlâ means with that Word. Even if one’s interpretation according to one’s own opinion is correct, since it is not derived by following the proper methodology, it is a mistake. If one’s interpretation according to one’s own opinion is not correct, in this case it causes disbelief. By the same token, it is sinful to quote hadîth-i-sherîfs without definitely knowing whether they are sahîh[1] or false, even if you have incidentally quoted sahîh ones. It is not permissible for a person in this capacity to read hadîth-i-sherîfs. Quoting hadîth-i-sherîfs from books of hadîth-i-sherîfs requires having received a (diploma called) ijâzat from a scholar of Hadîth. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “A person who invents a phrase and says that it is hadîth, will be punished in Hell.” It is permissible for those who do not have diplomas from Tafsîr scholars to talk or write about âyats of the Qur’ân al-kerîm by looking at books of Tafsîr written by scholars of Tafsîr. People who fulfil the above-cited qualifications for explaining the Qur’ân al-kerîm can do so or report hadîth-i-sherîfs without a written diploma. It is not permissible to charge for the diploma (ijâzat) given. It is wâjib to give an ijâzat to a person entitled to it. It is harâm to give an ijâzat to a person who does not fulfil the qualifications.

It is stated in hadîth-i-sherîfs: “If people without the required qualifications attempt to explain the Qur’ân al-kerîm, they will be subjected to torment in Hell.” “Those who say something as hadîth without knowing it, will be

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[1] Please see the fifth and sixth chapters of Endless Bliss for Books of Tafsîr and kinds of hadîth-i-sherîf.

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punished in Hell,” and “Those who express their personal views in the name of explaining the Qur’ân al-kerîm, will be punished in Hell.” As a matter of fact, some groups of bid’at adduce hadîth-i-sherîfs and âyat-i-kerîmas to support their heresies. [Shi’îs (Shiites), Wahhâbîs, miscreants who call themselves Tablîgh-i-jamâ’at, and followers of Mawdûdî and Sayyid Qutb are a few of these groups. Yûsuf an-Nabhânî ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’ explains these misleading tafsîrs at length in his book Shawâhid-ul-haqq. So are those people who attempt to contort the meanings of âyat-i-kerîmas at will under the hyperbolical casuistry that the Qur’ân al-kerîm comprises an inner essence as well as a façade with respect to meanings; as well as those who immure their manipulations under the name of tafsîr into the socio-regional and temporal insularity of their semantic repertoires.

One of the Ottoman scholars, Nuh bin Mustafa Konawi ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’, who passed away in 1070 hijrî, 1660 A.D. in Cairo, Egypt makes the following remarks in his translation of the book Milal wa Nihal, which was written by Muhammad Shihristânî ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’: People who are in “Ismâ’îliyya” group are called as such because they say that they are the followers of Ismâ’îl, ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’, who was the elder son of the Ja’far as-Sadiq, ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’. They are also called “Bâtiniyya” group, because they say that Qur’ân al-kerîm has an inner meaning (bâtin) as well as a literal meaning. They say that the literal meanings in the Qur’ân al-kerîm are the limited meanings which have been clichéd by “Fiqh” scholars and the inner meaning of the Qur’ân al-kerîm is like an endless ocean. They Believed in their own fabrications in the name of the inner meanings instead of following the literal meanings of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. In point of fact, what the Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ taught was the literal meanings. Leaving the literal meanings aside and following fabricated inner meanings causes disbelief. Their falsification is intended to destroy Islam from within. Fire worshippers (Majûsî), especially their leader Hamdan Qurmut, in order to stop the spreading of Islam, invented these tricks and established Qarâmuta State. He killed people who were making pilgrimage (hajj) to “Kâ’ba” and moved the “Hajar al-aswad” from “Kâ’ba” to Basra. They fabricated such sayings as, “Jannat means to pursue worldly pleasures and Hell means to

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obey Islam’s principles.” They named Islam’s prohibitions fine arts. Disguising what Islam calls immorality and indecency as moral recreation, they misguided younger generations into perdition. The harm which their State caused to Islam was irreparable. Incurring the Divine Wrath, they had their nemesis in 372 hicrî (983 A.D.), and perished once and for all.]

Tafsîr should be done in accordance to the principles of transmission (naql). To perform Tafsîr, one should be learned in the following fifteen Islamic Sciences: Lughat (Lexicology); Nahw and Sarf (Grammar and Syntax); Ishtiqaq (Etymology, Derivation); Ma’ânî (Meanings, Semantics); Bayân (Explanation, Phraseology); Badi’ (Figures of Speech); Qirâ’at (Reading or Reciting the Qur’ân al-kerîm); Usûl-i-dîn (Religious Methodology); Fiqh (Knowledge pertaining to acts of worship and deeds); Asbâb-i-nuzûl (Events and causes which occasioned the revelation of âyat-i-kerîmas); Nâsikh and Mansûkh (âyat-i-kerîmas which invalidated others and those which they invalidated); Usûl-i-fiqh (Methodology employed in the science of Fiqh); Hadîth; and ’Ilm-i-qalb (Science dealing with the spiritual heart). It is not permissible for a person who is not learned in these sciences to attempt a tafsîr of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. The knowledge of spiritual heart (Qalb)” or “Mawhiba” is a kind of knowledge which Allâhu ta’âlâ sends without an intermediary to pious scholars who follow Islam minutely. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “If a person practises what he knows, Allâhu ta’âlâ will teach him what he does not know.” Tafsîr is not a practice permissible for a person who is not learned in the aforesaid fifteen sciences. An attempt to explain âyat-i-kerîmas without a preliminary education in these sciences would yield some personal views under the cloak of tafsîr, which in turn is an act incurring fire of Hell. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “If a person spends forty days (running) in a state obedient to Islam’s principles with ikhlâs, Allâhu ta’âlâ will fill his heart with hikmat, and he will say (this hidden knowledge called) hikmat.” To interpret mutashâbih (metaphorical) âyat-i-kerîmas is equivalent to presenting one’s personal views in the name of tafsîr. It is this kind of tafsîr which holders of bid’at claim to have been accomplishing.

The Qur’ân al-kerîm contains three kinds of knowledge. The

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first kind is the knowledge which Allâhu ta’âlâ did not impart to any of His slaves. The true essence of His Dhât (Person) and His Attributes, and knowledge of (what we term) ghayb exemplify this category. The second kind is the secret knowledge He revealed to His prophets. Prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawât-u-wa-t-taslîmât’ may reveal this knowledge to those whom Allâhu ta’âlâ chooses. He taught the third type of knowledge to His prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawât-u-wa-t-taslîmât’ and ordered them to teach this knowledge to all their Ummat. The third type is divided into two sections. The first one is learned only by hearing. Knowledge about Doomsday (Qiyâmat) is of this kind. The second one is learned by observing, examining, reading and understanding its meaning. Knowledge which pertains to belief and Islam is in this category. Even (those profoundly learned Islamic scholars called) mujtahid imâms were unable to categrically understand the teachings of Sharî’at which are not communicated with clarity in the ‘Nass’, and were at variance with one another as to their meanings, which gave birth to various Madhhabs with respect to practices. Meanings derived by people well-versed in the aforesaid fifteen sciences are called ta’wîl, not tafsîr, for those meanings contain the interpreter’s personal choice; in other words, he makes a choice from among the various meanings he has inferred. If the meaning he chooses does not conform to the literal and clear meanings of the âyats of the Qur’ân and hadîths or to the unanimity of scholars (ijmâ’), then it is invalid (fâsid). The book Berîka, while explaining that dancing is forbidden, notes: “We are not commanded to practice our religion according to the books of tafsîr. We are commanded to adapt ourselves to books of Fiqh.”